# Is a street fight legal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227 "2016-01-15T14:51:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/21 "2016-01-15T19:02:21Z")
FWIW - hitting someone is Battery, not Assault. Assault is the threat of violence, battery is carrying it out. This is why threatening someone with a gun is assault with a deadly weapon, regardless of whether or not you pull the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/22 "2016-01-15T19:05:35Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > At common law, and in most jurisdictions, touching someone with a fingertip would be a battery if it is a crime at all. Assault is essentially a subset of battery that does not require touching. > > Having said that, touching someone with a fingertip can be a criminal battery (and certainly a civil battery) if the touching is unwanted. I believe that this is most often the case in workplace confrontations. If a manger tries to coerce an employee by getting touchy with them the employee can and will claim assault. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/23 "2016-01-15T19:40:51Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I stipulated no death though. Certainly beating someone to death is a crime whether they asked for it or not. But what about simply causing bruises on a consensual sparring partner? And again, does that make consensual BDSM illegal, too? You’re getting to the edge of the law now. Bruising someone can be the result of non-criminal consensual activity. You can probably give consent to have someone punch you without the intent to cause serious harm, but I don’t think your consent to allow someone to cause you serious harm outside of the areas specifically sanctioned by the state could be considered a defense. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/24 "2016-01-15T22:55:16Z")
There used to be a brawl here every friday night in the car park at one of the railway stations. People would come to participate knowing that there would be a brawl. Police would not interfere, as long as the fighting stayed in the car park, and didn’t touch non-particpants. I don’t know if that was “legal” or not. Clearly “legal” can mean different things. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/25 "2016-01-16T05:36:02Z")
In Colorado, it would fall under the Disorderly Conduct Statute: > [@Colorado Revised Statutes](#): > > Disorderly Conduct (18-9-106) > > A person commits disorderly conduct if he or she intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly: > (a) Makes a coarse and obviously offensive utterance, gesture, or display in a public place and the utterance, gesture, or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; or > (b) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2000, p. 708, § 39, effective July 1, 2000.) > (c) Makes unreasonable noise in a public place or near a private residence that he has no right to occupy; or > **(d) Fights with another in a public place except in an amateur or professional contest of athletic skill;** or > (e) Not being a peace officer, discharges a firearm in a public place except when engaged in lawful target practice or hunting; or > (f) Not being a peace officer, displays a deadly weapon, displays any article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly weapon, or represents verbally or otherwise that he or she is armed with a deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm. > Repealed. > (a) An offense under paragraph (a) or (c) of subsection (1) of this section is a class 1 petty offense; except that, if the offense is committed with intent to disrupt, impair, or interfere with a funeral, or with intent to cause severe emotional distress to a person attending a funeral, it is a class 2 misdemeanor. > (b) An offense under paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of this section is a class 3 misdemeanor. > (c) An offense under paragraph (e) or (f) of subsection (1) of this section is a class 2 misdemeanor. bolding mine ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/26 "2016-01-16T14:03:04Z")
Apparently it’s legal in at least part of Virginia: [A Backyard Fight Club as an Alternative to Gun Violence](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/us/a-backyard-fight-club-as-an-alternative-to-gun-violence.html?_r=0) [Street Beefs fights in Harrisonburg get national attention](http://www.whsv.com/content/news/Street-Beefs-fights-in-Harrisonburg-get-national-attention-365373871.html) From the second article: > [@](#): > > And according to the Harrisonburg Police Dept. (HPD), these fights are legal as long as two willing fighters are boxing on private property and there’s no money involved in the fights. There doesn’t appear to be much sport aspect here, especially with regards to licensing. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/27 "2016-01-16T15:07:25Z")
DO have both people make a written statement that they are willingly fighting each other and have those written statements notarized and witnessed. Then if one person dies due to the fighting, you will have proof that he/she was a willing participant. Otherwise the survivor WILL be charged with murder or manslaughter. Or if one person becomes a vegetable who can’t talk/write, other charges could be made. FYI - Fighting in REAL life can have bad outcomes - people get hurt, can become permanently brain injured, or could die. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/28 "2016-01-17T20:53:32Z")
It depends on the exact wording of your state law. At common law, mutual consent is a defense to battery (and assault). ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/29 "2016-01-18T07:32:53Z")
Note the proviso quoted in the Colorado law - “except in an amateur or professional contest of athletic skill” Even when two people are testing their karate skills, or maybe having a bare-fist match in a parking lot (that one sounds a bit like an organized “sport”) The key is that here there are limits to the contest, and to the type of harm either side is trying to inflict. A death or serious injury would be accidental, presumably - or that one person violated the norms or established rules of the game. It’s not much different than an arm-wrestling contest, say, with the risk of broken wrist. OTOH, a parking lot brawl outside the bar, started in anger, one or both venting their anger through the use of physical force - how is that NOT a recipe for serious bodily harm? Can you guarantee the one person will back off when the other is down? Occasionally assault and battery follows through with kicking ribs or stomping a head when the loser is down. Of course, knowing the difference between a “fun”(?) fight club and a vicious brawl in a parking lot could be confusing to a passing police officer… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/30 "2016-01-18T17:22:17Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/31 "2016-01-19T02:22:19Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Okay, but that doesn’t address the legality. If I stick to officially sanctioned martial arts moves in a street fight, does that make it more or less legal? This is analogous to asking “What if I restrict myself to only licensed turns while operating a car?” It’s a misunderstanding of what the licensing accomplishes. The moves themselves aren’t what are sanctioned. The state athletic commission (generally speaking) sanctions events, and in general those events have to adhere to certain safety restrictions. Your street fight is legal if the athletic commission sanctioned it; two professionals fighting an impromptu brawl in the parking lot wouldn’t be legal even if they scrupulously followed the rules of their promotion. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227/32 "2016-01-19T04:44:22Z")
An officer once showed me a YouTube video of a fight and pointed out the moment when it became a crime: when the other guy stopped fighting back. As has already been pointed out, ymmv depending on your local laws. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-street-fight-legal/743227.md?page=1)